One of the widespread merchandising techniques is to suspend carded merchandise from display hooks, typically mounted on apertured panel boards. The display hooks extend outward from the panel board several inches and mount multiple sets of carded merchandise, typically all of the same kind, on the same display hook.
When the carded merchandise has significant value, pilferage can be a considerable problem, because a shoplifter can easily slide a number of objects off of a single display hook and drop them into a shopping bag or the like. This can all be done in a swift motion, and the shoplifter frequently escapes without apprehension.
A number of devices have been proposed in the past to inhibit such wholesale shoplifting. In some cases, these proposals sufficiently inhibit the removal of merchandise as to interfere with legitimate sales. In other cases, the anti-pilferage arrangements can interfere with product loading.
One of the more acceptable prior proposals for anti-pilferage of display merchandise is reflected by the Rosenthal U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,725. This patent discloses a one-piece, plastic display hook, which is formed with an upwardly and rearwardly projecting resilient tongue, near its forward end. The display hook is of generally flat, relatively rigid plastic material suitable to receive carded merchandise where the cards are formed with relatively wide, horizontal slots. The resilient tongue is arranged to deflect downwardly, when carded merchandise is loaded from front to rear onto the display hook. Once the merchandise card is behind the tongue, however, the tongue springs upwardly blocking removal of the merchandise from the display hook. Removal of the merchandise one item at a time is quite easily accomplished by depressing the resilient tongue with the thumb of one hand, while sliding the carded merchandise forwardly over the depressed tongue with the other hand. While not inhibiting legitimate, one at a time product removal, however, the device effectively prevents wholesale removal of multiple cards from the display hook in a single swooping motion.
While the device of the Rosenthal patent is functionally acceptable, it requires the complete replacement of product display hooks now existing in the marketplace, of which there are many millions. The cost of making such a complete replacement of merchandise hooks is inhibiting to many store owners and merchandise chains.
Accordingly, it is an objective of this invention to provide a anti-pilferage, merchandise retention device which is designed for retro-fit installation into existing display hook hardware. More specifically, the present invention provides a retrofit device, which may be installed in an existing "loop hook" display device, which instantly converts the otherwise conventional loop hook into an effective anti-pilferage device having a rearwardly directed resilient tongue which must be depressed in order to remove a product card from the hook.
Conventional loop hooks are formed with two outwardly extending, spaced-apart, parallel wire sections, which are joined at their outer end extremities by an integral, U-shaped wire section. Many millions of such loop hooks are currently in use throughout the world.
The device of the invention comprises a wide, flat body member, which is grooved along its opposite side edges in a manner to enable it to be snugly received between the spaced-apart, parallel wire sections of the loop hook. Once the body member is installed between the wire sections of the loop hook, it is firmly retained therein. The body member is formed with an upwardly extending, rearwardly directed resilient tongue to enable carded merchandise to pass over the body member in a rearward direction, for easy product loading onto the display hook, while effectively preventing product removal, unless the tongue is manually depressed.
In a preferred form of the invention, positioning means are provided for attachment to the outer extremity of the loop hook, in order to position the body member properly in the front-to-back direction on the hook. In a particularly preferred form of the invention, such positioning means includes a positioning member, which is separate from the body member but attached thereto by a flexible hinge. The positioning member is grooved about its front and side edges, in order to be received snugly within the U-shaped outer end portion of the loop hook. A locking element, carried on the outer end of the positioning member, grips the outer end portion of the loop hook, and secures the entire assembly in position. Because loop hooks quite typically are tilted upwardly at their outer end extremities, the flexible hinge connection between the body member of the device and the positioning member allows the latter to be disposed at an upwardly tilted angle relative to the former to accommodate contours of the hook.
The device of the invention may be economically produced as a one-piece plastic molding, so that the device may be marketed at extremely low cost.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and to the accompanying drawings.